Google has officially removed cached links on its search results page after nearly two decades of service.

Google Search Liaison confirmed the news via X (formerly Twitter) that the search engine has fully retired the feature at the end of January.

In addition to cached links, Google noted that the "cache:" search operator will also be gone "in the near future."

Google: Cached Links are a Legacy Feature

The tech giant has been slowly discontinuing the feature for the past years as it becomes more obsolete in the modern internet.

In 2021, Google developer relations engineer Martin Split even said that the feature was a "basically unmaintained legacy feature" that could be removed anytime soon.

The cached link feature was among the oldest features the search engine has remained active since it first launched in 1998.

Cached links were primarily used as shortcuts to access pages on a website within the "About the Result" tab. It also works as an indicator of how Google's web crawler operates.

The company is now seeking to collaborate with The Internet Archive to preserve the resource feature, although "no promises" as for now.

Also Read: Protect the Internet Archive: Importance of a Free Info Hub

How to Cache Google Search Links

While the official Google cached links are gone now, the feature can still be used through third-party websites and extensions.

Online web hub Cached.view can still redirect users to all the cached links from Archive.org and Google Web.

Here, users can view even previous edits of the webpage as long as the link was active at that time period.

Of course, the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine can also work as a way to view cached links but it is more focused on old website links than newer ones.

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